Title:
CLARKS FARM (KELVEDON) LTD
Level: Category
Business records
Level: Fonds
CLARKS FARM (KELVEDON) LTD
Dates of Creation:
1900-1969, 1993
Extent:
57 volumes, 1 plan
Admin History:
These records relate to a business established by Lewis James Cullen (born at Rose Cottage, Rivenhall, 1880), the third son of Thomas C. Cullen of Rivenhall, seedgrower, and his wife Elizabeth. While his elder brothers Thomas W. Cullen and Frank Cullen entered their father's firm of Thomas Cullen and Sons Ltd (for records of which see D/F 90), and Frank Cullen later farmed at Cressing Temple, Lewis J. Cullen was set up on Clarks Farm, a mixed farm in Cranes Lane, Kelvedon. The farm buildings are at TL 848181.

Clarks Farm was part of the Felix Hall estate, owned by the Western family. When offered for sale in 1802 (SALE/B461) it had comprised 142 acres. When the estate was broken up in 1913, L.J. Cullen bought the freehold of the farm. The farm then comprised 186 acres, Cullen being the sitting tenant of 121 acres, and of a further 63 acres nearby on the estate. The sale catalogue includes a plan, and a photograph of the farmhouse (SALE/B4005). In 1993 the farm covered 155.7 hectares or 385 acres (D/F 302/4/1).

The earliest record surviving here is of 1900, and this was probably the year in which Cullen took over the farm (compare Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1899). The 1901 census shows him at the farmhouse with his unmarried sister Margaret, later the wife of Arthur Taber (National Archives RG 13/1724, folio 119, p. 7). Kelly's Directories of Essex for 1902 and 1906 name the business as 'Cullen Brothers', L.J. Cullen appearing alone only from 1910.

After L.J. Cullen's death in 1956, the business was converted into a limited company called Clarks Farm (Kelvedon) Ltd., registration number 574708. The exact date of its formation is not known, but the title first appears here on the labour accounts for 1961-1962 (D/F 302/2/45). The company was managed initially by Jack Taber (son of Arthur and Margaret Taber) and then by Richard Brydon Cullen, grandson of L.J. Cullen. Latterly the farm produced mainly wheat, but it became uneconomic and in 2008 it was sold, the company being wound up at this point [information from depositor].
Archivist Note:
D/F 302/1/1; 302/2/1-48; 302/3/1-4 catalogued by CL, June 2008.
D/F 302/4/1 catalogued by CL, July 2008.
Related Unit of Description:
Other [unspecified] items from the farm have been donated to the Feering and Kelvedon Local History Museum [information from depositor].